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In the welfare threads I see people talk about moochers and government incompetence. In the corporatism threads I see people excuse the actions of corporations and the wealthy by claiming that they are just "acting in their rational interests".

So in other words, I find that internet libertarians (particularly of the CATO/Reason/Mises outfits) routinely blame the poor, while excusing the rich.

Which may be a legal problem since they are required by law to maximized profits for shareholders.

But that's exactly what /u/wellactuallyhmm is talking about. A business is not legally required to maximize profits for shareholders. If they don't maximize profits, they'll likely just lose shareholders that care only about the bottom line. I'm sure some shareholders (like all those people who give so much money to charity and would give even more without taxes according to this thread) care more than just about the bottom line.

If a company could maximize their profits by murdering one person, would that be acceptable? Would they not be guilty of any wrongdoing since they're just "maximizing profits?"

/u/wellactuallyhmm is saying if they steal, lie or cheat in the name of "maximizing profits," they should still be held culpable. This is not a feeling held by many in this subreddit. As with this comment, it's much more common for people to blame "the game" for allowing wrongdoing instead of the players for actually doing wrong.

edit: TIL that for-profit corporations can be sued by shareholders if they don't maximize profits. There are still other types of corporations that do not abide by this (non-profit and benefit corporations), but since my statement above doesn't cover all, I've struck it out. I think this rule (law?) is terrible and should be changed, and still do not think that immoral or illegal actions by corporations should be excused because "it's the law" or "maximized profits."